Answered by Shaykh Amjad Rasheed
Translated by Shaykh Hamza Karamali, SunniPath Academy Teacher
I know someone who qualifies as a recipient of zakat because of his poverty. He has a large family to support, is unemployed, and short of money. However, he doesn”t spend the money that he receives wisely. Instead of spending it on his and his family”s needs and necessities, he uses it to buy expensive clothes and other luxuries and ends up placing himself in the same situation that he was in before. Is it permissible to give such a person one”s zakat money?
It is permissible to give zakat to anyone who is characterized by the level of poverty that makes it permissible for them to receive zakat, even if they spend the money they receive on other than their legitimate needs and necessities.
The only condition is that the one who gives zakat should not know that the recipient will spend it on something unlawful. If he knows that the recipient will spend the zakat money on something unlawful, then it is not permissible for him to give him zakat money because he will thereby be helping him to commit a sin. al-Khatib al-Shirbini said in Mughni al-Muhtaj: “Ibn Birzi gave fatwa that it is permissible to give one”s zakat to a corrupt person unless the zakat money helps him to commit the sin, in which case it unlawful to give it to him.”
السؤال: سألني بعضُ الطلاب:
1) هل يجوز أداءُ الزكاة إلى مَن عُلم من عادته أنه يصرفُ المالَ المؤدَّى إليه إلى أشياء لا تُعَدُّ من حاجاته وضروراته؟ وهل يؤثر لو كان يعتاد صرفَ المال في هذه الأوجه مثل الثياب الفاخرة وغير ذلك من الترفهات قبل صيرورته فقيراً؟ المرسل حمزة كرم علي/ كندا.
الجواب: مَن قام به وصفُ الفقر فاستحقَّ الأخذَ من الزكاة جاز إعطاؤه إياها ولو كان يُنْفِقُ ذلك في غير حاجاته وضروراته، ما لم يعلم المعطي أنه ينفقه في حرامٍ، فيحرم عليه إعطاؤه حينئذٍ؛ لئلا يُعِينَه على المعصية. قال في “مغني المحتاج” (4/184):” وأفتى ابنُ البِزْرِي بجواز دفعِها إلى فاسقٍ إلا أن يكون المدفوعُ إليه يُعِينُه على المعصية فيحرمُ إعطاؤه “. اهـ